Thursday, November 09, 2006

Five Reasons to Root for Rutgers

Despite being unbeaten and playing in a BCS conference, Rutgers has been saddled with the college football equivalent of the "soft bigotry of low expectations."

When an unexpected, historically bad program makes a "dream-season" run – particularly when that team starts the season unranked – they are nicked twice: Not only do they have to overcome public perception, but they have to overcome voter bias.

If Rutgers had the exact same record, statistics and strength of schedule but its jersey said "Miami" or "Colorado" -- or even, say, "Pitt" -- they would be ranked in the Top 5 right now.

But because they are "RUTGERS," they entered the season at a severe disadvantage in the human polls that the team is still struggling to overcome: Pollsters can't believe that RUTGERS is any good.

I have first-hand experience with a situation very similar to this: In 1995, when Northwestern went through its dream Rose Bowl season, it took 8 weeks and a win at then-No. 7 Michigan for NU to climb to No. 17, despite being 4-1. (Off the top of my head, Wisconsin went through similar treatment during its Cinderella Rose Bowl season in 1993.)

But NU and Wisco even benefited from playing in the Big Ten. Rutgers is pinged for playing in the Big East (despite the fact that most computer polls rank the Big East ahead of the... wait for it... SEC. I'm not kidding.)

The fastest way for Rutgers to FINALLY earn the Top 5-10 ranking it deserves? Beat unbeaten No. 3 Louisville on ESPN tonight. (Whew, can you remember the last time that two unbeaten teams played this late in the season on BACK-TO-BACK weeks? These Thursday night games really have become the Monday Night Football of college football.)

Anyway, if Rutgers can pull off the upset and beat Louisville, I will replace Louisville with Rutgers as my No. 2-ranked team. End the bias against traditionally shitty programs having Cinderella seasons!

Now, Five Reasons to Root Like Hell for Rutgers:

(1) Would tilt the BCS: Vastly increases the likelihood that the Ohio St-Michigan winner would play one of the many qualified teams with one loss. (Which one? Hey: That's the "tilt" part.)

(2) No better Cinderella story in college football this season. (Or, in fact, the last 10 years. Rutgers is this decade's Northwestern.)

(3) Super superlative: It would be the BIGGEST win EVER for Rutgers football. Those kind of wins are precious and rare. (And it's AT Rutgers: Imagine the Jersey-style post-game mayhem!)

(4) Stick it to poll voters, as mentioned above. Expose the stupidity of those who continue to underrate Rutgers because they're Rutgers.

(5) Rutgers – RUTGERS!! – would have the inside track on the path to the national-title game. RUTGERS!! How can you NOT want to see that?

77 comments:

Apparently this is the first time EVER that Rutgers has participated in a college football game in which both teams are ranked. I think that says some of the "Softiness" is merited. The Big East is still the Big Least. The fact that these teams all play week out of conference schedules so they can stay "undefeated" doesn't really change that.

Maybe there is a bias because their schedule sucks...if they win tonight they can be in the top 15...As a ND fan hoping the stars will align and give us a shot for the title we need RU to win among 10 other things to get a chance to play the OSU - Mich. winner. So go State University of New Jersey (can they put a SUNJ on their helmets instead of the R, come on, SUNJ is much much more appealing than R).

As a Rutgers alum, I think I speak for most of my fellow Scarlet Knights when I say that we don't care where we get ranked or if we make the national championship. This excitement for RU football, undefeated late season matchups, bowl games... was all absolutely unfathomable during my time there from '99 to '02. My senior year we were 1-11.

So, unlike fans at my grad school alma mater (USC), we're really happy just to be here. For now.

Look at the past 3 Thursday night football games- the home underdog has won each of them (BC over VT in Boston, week off, VT over Clemson in Blacksburg, and Louisville over WVA in Louisville) Notice a trend?

Even if Rutger's runs the table they will NOT be in the national title game. Sadly enough it is all about the money and Rutger's will not draw the national audience that a one-loss Michigan, OSU, Florida, etc. would draw

Well Manningham...as a fellow Michigan fan I would say that a Rutgers win would leave the possibility of Michigan making the Championship if they lose to OSU. Rutgers will lose to WVU, so everyone will be one loss besides OSU and MICH.

Its not all about the money, if Rutgers wins it's a great story. The program is VERY improved from the terrible years they've had. Yes going back to 1869 Rutgers has had only 20 or so winning seasons.

That being said it's Rutgers. I am not buying that they have come 30 years of no winning seasons which recently included a 4-7 record with a loss to New Hampshire (I-AA)in 2004 to the 2nd best team in the country in 2006. It just doesn't work that way.

I think the Big Least talk needs to quiet down. Louisville's one of the only BCS conference teams to NOT schedule a 1-AA softie. I can look at the schedules of Michigan and OSU and find games just as soft as teams Rutgers and Louisville have played.

OSU fans and Michigan fans need to face the facts that the Big 10 is a fricken joke. Illinios? sucks. Iowa? sucks. NW? sucks. Mich St? ugh. Indiana? Need I go on? Fact is that Mich and OSU played 1 game each. OSU played Texas with a freshman quarterback and Michigan beat a no defense, no run ND team. I'll give them some credit for Wisconsin, but that's it. The top 3 of the Big 10 are good, the rest is pretty much crap. So Big 10 lovers need to stop praising their conference as the ultimate.

I'd say advantage there goes to Louisville's schedule. When the powerhouse schools (all of them, not just Mich and OSU) start going on the road more than once during the non-conference part of the schedule then I'll take it seriously.

I'll agree Louisville's out of conference schedule was well done and I applaud them for that. However, he reason that schedule had to be set is because their conference isn't great.

You can go through the Big 10, SEC, or any conference and find the dud teams. And the Big 10 is very down this year.

However, you're going to have a hard time convincing me the 4th best team in the Big East (currently South Florida) is even in the same LEAGUE as Penn State/Tennessee/Nebraska/Oregon State

The diffence between the leagues is the fact that: 1st - The Big East has ONE extra game to schedule, leaving them with NO excuse not to have at least two BCS schools as out of conference games and 2nd - The Big East has some good teams on top, but you're going to have to give me (a Florida native) a lot of convincing to have me believe a school who didn't have football 10 years ago is good enough to be the 4th best team in any other league

If Louisville goes undefeated they will probably be in the title game and they earned it because they ran the table. However, I will not buy in top to bottom that the Big East is better than the any of the other 5 conferences.

But at least OSU and Michigan played (and beat) one top ten team (Texas/ND) whereas I have yet to see Lville play a top ten team (WVU is not a top ten team because...their schedule is worse than Lville's) Big East teams are being hyped up simply because they beat garbage teams. Big ten does suck, but OSU and Mich still have quality wins against very very good teams and Lville has a similar schedule except for those two big games. For OSU - Texas/Mich; for Mich - ND/OSU.

tf....your an idiot. You obviously know nothing about college football to say that USF could not beat Penn State, OSU, and Nebraska; they might have a problem with Tennessee. Did you not see what they did to Pitt last week, a pitt that was at one time the top 6 offense in the country, held to 12 points. Also, they beat Lousville last year. But they CAN'T hang???? Also take into account that the team has only been around for a few years, I would say they are on the up-and-up and could beat ANY 4th ranked team in ANY conference right now. Oh, and by the way, they are doing this with a FRESHMAN QB, Matt Grothe. The freshman sensation didnt even start playing until a few games into the season after the Senior QB was sucking it up. So the question is if they had put the freshmen in earlier they would probably be the 2-3rd best team.

You serious? USF lost to Kansas and Cincinnati. Yes they beat Pitt, but where did you even see me mention Pitt was good? And Yes, they beat Louisville last year, but they also got it handed to them by Penn State and Miami, then lost to a bad UConn team near the end of the season.

Didn't that Grothe kid come in during the 1st game of the season? Not to take anything away from the kid,because I believe he's gonna be special, but he did start when they lost to Kansas.

I never said they couldn't beat those schools, they have shown the propensity to beat schools you think they shouldn't. I said they are NOT in the same LEAGUE. Consistency is a staple of a solid team, those teams have shown the ability to play consistently, whereas for every Louisville win USF has they have always had a Cincinnati or a UConn loss to counter it.

I am familiar with the program, I lived in Tampa after I graduated from UF and even attended their program breaking game over I-AA #1 ranked Troy State in 2000. USF has come a long way since starting their program.

However, they have a few years and more than 1 win, to prove to me they're in the same LEAGUE as Nebraska, Penn State, Tennessee.

Clearly the two Manningham posters are 18 yo roomies at UM (or, more likely, mid-30s balding white guys in an office cubicle farm) who have not yet learned to integrate into the greater fandom sphere.

Track record does matter a bit. Teams like Michigan and Ohio State have been consistently good over decades. So it is easier to agree that those teams are strong this year. Louisville does not have that cred.

Great to hear you're starting a quest to stop the bias. I hope to see BYU ranked as high or higher than other two-loss teams in your top 25.

I love the traditional complaint... "well, who have they played?" that's why a playoff is needed. With schedules being made years in advance, and no control over the other teams in your conference... the non-BCS teams continually get screwed even if they may be better, no one will ever know. Ugh.

Ok I'm going to stick up a bit for Kansas, somewhat, since saying USF lost to them and therefore means nothing. yes Kansas plays in the Big 12 north which is down and has been for a few years. Kansas right now sits at 5-5 with the following losses:

1. Toledo in double overtime when the starting QB got hurt in the 4th quarter and didn't tell the coaches. Two overtime possessions=two turnovers by the QB

2. Nebraska in overtime in Lincoln. If the backup QB doesn't turn the ball over twice in the red zone completely different story.

3. Texas A&M... lead the entire game until A&M scored with 34 secs left.

Had they not had 8-9 new starters on defense you're talking a team that is probably sitting at 8-2 and already booking a trip to KC for the Big 12 title.

And don't forget the whole Vince Young legend started when he came back to beat KU after a BS offensive pass interference call. KU had them beat. Texas loses that game, there is no Vince Young show in the Rose bowl against Michigan (who he singlehandedly beat).

In no way is Kansas great, but they aren't bad either. And yes I'd put them up against the the number 4 team in the Big 10 and wouldn't be surprised when they won.

Plain and simple, OSU and Michigan are not MORE proven right now than Rutgers or Louisville. Why? Because THEY HAVEN'T PLAYED EACH OTHER. People seem to forget this is the ONLY way to find out who is better, the conference or past competition has nothing to do with it, Rivalry games and ranked vs unranked upsets prove this every year. Its obvious we just need a playoff as the only solution to nonsense arguments about who people "think" is better without being able to just put them up against each other.

I think its hilarious that everyone out there always love to tell you how their conference/school is awesome and the reason is because (insert conference they don't like or the one who has a chance of knocking their school out of contention) sucks because their conference sucks or has easy schedules. Please realize every school out there has horrible teams on their schedule, the power schools do it on purpose and refuse mid-majors cause they don't wanna be upset and ruin their season while mid-majors do it because its all thats left. I think everyone just needs to realize we are all homers (espically when it comes to college), and that every conference has sucky teams not to mention none of these teams share any common opponents.

the only way to find out what teams are better is to have them play each other, relating things by the notion of A beat B beat C beat D NEVER works because its theoretical.

You are in the same boat as me, born and raised in Tampa, went off to college (instead I went to a GOOD university like FSU) and return back to Tampa; where I live presently. You should know, more then anyone that USF can hang with any team in Div. I right now. Im not sure how many games USF played before starting the Frosh, but Im pretty sure it was not the first game, I know they put him in for the comeback victory when they started him there after. I believe 3 game of the year, I would research but Im at work right now. The fact of the matter is USF is a contender and the Big East is a conference that gets no respect. Pat Forde wrote a great article earlier this week about how Big East teams cant schedule a non-conference game becuase noone wants to play them, not becuase they are trying to schedule cake U teams for easy wins. It wasnt until the Kentucky governement stepped in and demanded the UK play Louisville that they could get an SEC team to play them.

Anyways, do not sleep on USF, and next week we will see how close they play Louisville @ Louisville. I do not think they will win, but it will be close.

Here's another reason: If Rugters wins, they're not going to play for the national title game. They might deserve a chance, but they're not gonna get it. But who's currently #4 behind L'ville? That's right, Texas. So the scenario I forsee is: Michigan loses to OSU, by two TDs or 17 points. This will drop them down to probably #4 or 5. If neither of the SEC teams are super-impressive, guess who's going to end up at #2? The Longhorns.

So you'd end up with this completely ridiculous scenario: Texas lost to OSU by 21 at home, while Michigan lost to OSU by 14 on the road...and UT gets the edge simply because they lost earlier. This scenario could help the NCAA realize what a dumb system this is and get us one step closer to a playoff.

Comparing ND's schedule to Rutgers is completely and totaly ludicrous...GT, Penn St, Michigan, Purdue, UCLA, USC...Lville is the only team that compares to any of those teams on teh rutgers schedule - sure ND plays some cupcakes, but they are all D-I schools with potential (NC was supposed to be turning it around, Air Force was a top 25 team a couple years ago, Navy is always a top 50 team(stretch))...this has been one of the easiest schedules over the past ten years for ND and it is still a hell of a lot harder than 90% of the schools out there. People forget they played the hardest schedule coming out of the first five games in the country.

If anyone wants to know why Louisville has to go to Glendale if they win out, follow this: Lets say I was a Texas advocate and wanted them in...

I would probobly say that Louisville beating a few bad teams doesnt count as real wins. However, I would have to back that up by saying that Texas's loss to Ohio State didn't count (for whatever reason you want). So I'd be discounting Louisville's wins and Texas's loss to justify it. But then what games do count and who gets to decide???

If I said that Louisville doesn't get credit for beating a 1-AA team, I'd also have to discount a Colorado loss to a 1-AA team...help I'm contradicting myself!

Look, if you can't even read I can't help you much Dan Mega. Georgia Tech is currently ranked in all polls and Notre Dame won at Georgia Tech 14-10 as I stated previously in the exact post that said do a little research next time.

What is wrong with FSU? Academically one of the best Business Schools in the nation, top 10 information science schools in the nation, and one of the best Meteorologist programs in the nation.

And we were a Football Dynasty along with Nebraska....and do not think becuase we have a team decimated by injuries, frosh and sophs that Bobby Bowden will not be coaching a National Championship team in 2 years. So Dick....what is NOT good about FSU?

Please tell me you are a Miami fan so I can rip you a new one.....becuase if you are my first question is..."really, what years did you attend" and then you will reply like 99% of all U of M thugs, I didnt go to the school......and if you are a UF fan...well congradulations, you are still a basketball school, and you are NOT playing for a national championship this year.

I'm an alum of a school with only 30% women who are all ugly, and will be in the ACC Championship game this year. If you want to make fun of my school, it isn't hard although we have twice as many "national championships" as FSU.

Relax man. If you dish it out, make sure you can take it.

By the way...I love how some schools like to show off how smart their students are by having them spell the name of the school.

Don't mistake my slowness to accept Louisville and, last week/month, WVU as Top 3 teams for lack of interest. I just don't think they've made their case clear yet. I believe I was right about WVU, because I was watching ESPN last Thursday night as well.

Right now I think Rutgers and Louisville should be somewhere in the top ten, and Rutgers might very well be better than UL, if only because you have to play football both directions. We'll see if the Big East showdown of the week can prove me right again.

Boise State, by the way, gets very little respect from me. Too many "States" on that schedule that they are rolling through.

By the way, I was in the FSU Student section for the 14-13 loss to you guys. Trash talking is always fun when you're out numbered 100 to 1.

For the spelling of the school, I was referring to your fight song. Other (dummy) schools that do it include Clemson and Georgia (and Florida now that I think about it). For them I always thought that they tossed degrees in your car when you drove by, but its not that simple...apparantly you have to roll down the window first.

I can tell you that I am pumped for the Rutgers game tonight! I have been all week. I will be missing Grey's Anatomy to watch it.My cousins are all alum from the State University of New Jersey and had sparked our interest in the Scarlet Knights back when they were the laughing stock.I hope they spank UL tonight.Manninghams...I am now convinced you are the same person!

Im glad you were there for your first win against us in.....I dont know how long. When you steam roll horrible teams for so long its hard to keep track. As well, Im so glad you went to such a prestigious school as GT...whats wrong MIT wouldn't accpet you? And as for our fight song, none better in the NCAA. Its so good Atlanta Braves took it from us and Nelly made a song with our chant in the background. F-L-O-R-I-D-A S-T-A-T-E, florida state florida state florida state Woooooooooo. So enjoy your ACC championship game, becuase you will NOT win the ACC and you will not be back anytime soon. So just like TECH, enjoy being a mediocre team/school.

Oh dear. Are people seriously debating the scholastic merits of their schools. Seriously? Get one thing straight, unless you went to a school that has a reputation for being strong academically (i.e. ivy league, stanford, northwestern) then everyone got pretty much the same education. And it's not what education you have, it's what you do with that education.

You and I have the same fear of Texas getting into the NC. Well, it might not be a fear for you, but it is for me. Frankly, I'll never forget the hissy fit that Mack Brown threw a few years ago to knock Cal out of its first Rose Bowl in decades. And you know we'll hear it again if Texas has any semblance of a prayer of getting to the title game.

There's only one scenario that I can see that would trump Texas getting to the title. USC has to run the table. If USC can manage to beat Oregon, Cal, and Notre Dame as well as UCLA, then they'll leapfrog Texas. #21, #8, #9. It'll definitely make life interesting. But for the love of god let's keep Texas out of the NC because we already saw OSU kick the crap out of them IN AUSTIN!!! Don't really need a repeat of that one.

Here's something to consider if Louisville loses opening the door to a 1-loss team in the NC. Would Texas actually be ahead of Florida in the BCS if Oklahoma didn't get hosed by the officials in Oregon? OU would only have 1 loss (to this point) which would bump them up in the standings, which in turn would bump Texas up in the standings.

Boise State has a weak schedule this year. I agree with that whole heartedly. But that is through very little fault of theirs. The bigger conferences aren't letting them into their league, and they're in their 3rd league as a D-1 school. They beat whoever is on their schedule. They try and schedule bigger schools (Georgia last year) but is it fair that those bigger schools won't schedule a home/home series. You'll never see a big name school come into Boise.

so i guess that proves the bias against wake and boise because they are wake and boise wrong as well as the whole RUTGERS REALLY IS GOOD theory

this also may be the reason that if a 1 loss team goes to the championship it'll be florida (keep in mind that USC's SOS will go up though)

as I see it, THERE ARE 3 REASONS TO ROOT FOR A TEAM IN A BIG GAME THAT DOESN'T AFFECT YOUR TEAM

1. Make the Championship game BETTER If rutgers wins it'll probobly make the game better. It eliminates Louisville, who stinks from what we saw last week and will stink even worse if they lose tonight, from contension.EDGE: Rutgers

2. Bring Down the Retarded BCS once and for all the prospect of Rutgers going undefeated and not making the Championship while playing in a BCS conference is tempting.EDGE: Rutgers

Here's the situation. Ohio State people and Michigan people are going to root for Louisville because they feel that Louisville is the easier game in the National Championship than say.. Florida. Most everyone else is going to pull for Rutgers because of the underdog thing and the "blow up the BCS" thing. Why do people love Cinderella's so much during March Madness... because it creates chaos and is a damn good story. Rutgers is that Cinderella.

And personally, if I were Michigan and Ohio State, I'd be begging for Rutgers to win to knock Louisville out. They're offense is much more explosive than Florida's. (Sorry Dan but its true.) OSU/Mich vs Florida is probably an easier game for OSU/Mich than Louisville's is.

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